Stark White
by Book117Worm
Summary: Being was a father was hard. Being the single father of a 1/4 ghost was a whole different story.


Danny was 21 when he found out. To say he freaked out would've been the greatest understatement of the century.

His girlfriend was pregnant.

His college sweetheart, Isabella, was _pregnant. _Danny immediately threw up after finding out as if he were the pregnant one instead.

He and Isabella had been dating for almost two years at that time, and their relationship was far from serious. They were casual and that's how Danny could balance it, ghost fighting, and university. They went to parties and clubs together and drank until they were seeing double. He hadn't even told her about being Danny Phantom, let alone this.

Far from this.

Danny always assumed he and Izzy would eventually just split, tired of each other, continue on with their lives like nothing had really happened, moving towards better and bigger places. But here he was now, wasn't he?

He had curled up in his dorm bed and screamed into his pillow until his voice was hoarse.

How could he be so reckless? God, he knew he could be reckless while fighting ghosts, but never with sex, never with... Had a condom broke? That had to be it, right? Right?

Danny locked himself up in the bathroom for so long that his roommates grew concerned. He stared at himself in the mirror. His ruffled dark hair stuck in all directions and fell in his face, His normally tan skin was pale with sickness. Deep bags were engraved into the space underneath his eyes.

This had to be some type of cruel joke. This had to be some type of horrible dream.

He wasn't ready to be a father! He was still a kid himself, really. He could barely take care of himself, how was he going to take care of a... a baby?

Oh, God. His parents were going to kill him. Oh, God. His mom was going to kill him, resurrect him, and then kill him again.

—-

The first people he told were Turkey and Sam, as expected, but it wasn't exactly how he had planned.

He was going to take them to dinner with the little money he had and then break it to them. It wasn't Tucker Danny was scared of. No, far from it. Tucker might be a little upset, but he had known Danny since he was potty trained. There were few things on Earth that could make Tucker angry enough to ignore or leave him. This, he was 98% sure, was not one of them.

Sam was a different matter.

Yes, Sam was a supportive friend. So supportive, in fact, they dated for a full week in freshman year, then broke up, and went on as if nothing had ever happened. You see, Sam was a wild card. Danny never quite knew what she was going to do.

He was right to be scared.

When Sam had found him in Tucker's bed, clutching onto his best friend's pillow, sniffling like a small child, and ranting deliriously, she was immediately worried.

And Danny, being the wreck that he was, blurted it out without thinking.

There was silence, deafening silence. You could've heard the soft flapping of a butterfly's wings.

Danny watched his friends' faces and eyes rush from shock then mix into horror in an instance.

He braced himself, burying his face into Tucker's pillow to avoid seeing their faces.

He couldn't face them.

Sam's voice was shaking as badly as her body. "Da... Danny, is... is that true?"

His grief stricken face when he pulled away from the pillow and the steady stream of clear tears now slipping past his eyes told them their answer better than any words could.

Expressions of grief immediately struck down on his friends' faces.

The goth sat down on the edge of Tucker's bed and the geek followed. Their sad eyes laid on him and the pity they radiated made his skin crawl and twitch.

"How far along?"

Danny opened and closed his mouth, but his voice was melted like glue to the back of his throat. His shoulders felt impossibly heavy. "Six... s-ix weeks..."

"Is she keeping it?" asked Tucker.

"I don't know," he admitted, looking down, and closing his eyes. He sat up, pressing his back to the wall.

"You have to convince her to get an abortion, Danny," began Sam, her voice ringing with determination. She was speaking the way she usually did when she was passionate about something. As if this wasn't about to change his whole life. "It's your kid, too. You have a choice in it, too."

"I should," he whispered, clutching his knees to his chest. "But it's her body. Her choice."

Painful silence fell amongst them again. What could they possibly say? They knew Danny wouldn't be a deadbeat father. He wouldn't let that happen. He wasn't going to abandon Isabella with a baby, but... but it was Isabella's body. She was the one who would carry the baby. It was so convoluted and confusing, his head was spinning so rapidly he thought he was going to throw up again.

His friends pulled him into a hug, enveloping him in their warm bodies and familiar comfort. He pushed his face into their shirts so they couldn't see his face, but he was sure they could feel his warm tears soaking through the fabric anyways.

—

"I'm keeping it."

Those three words were earth-shattering.

"What?" croaked Danny.

Izabella looked down guiltily, arm protectively wrapped around her stomach, even though she didn't have a baby bump. Her pretty blond hair fell flat around her face. She hadn't curled it like she usually did.

"I can't... I can't get an abortion," she whimpered weakly, brown eyes bleary with unfallen tears. "I just... I just can't..."

"What about your future?" Danny blurted. His heart rate was ringing through his ears like drums. "What about my future?"

"We'll put them up for adoption."

"There's over 5ook kids in the foster system," he argued back.

Isabella curled then uncurled her hands. She fixed a steady gaze onto her boyfriend, but her hands were shaking. "This is my choice, Danny."

He stared back at her with same unwavering gaze. "It's my kid, too."

The young woman closed her eyes, leaning further into the couch of her small apartment. "My parents are going to kill me."

The ghost boy couldn't help the humorless chuckle that escaped his mouth. "Yeah, mine too."

They looked away and silence between them could've pierced even the toughest of steel like a piece of paper. A disheartening feeling settled deep into his chest. How could he possibly convince her otherwise? He was not the one who was going to carry the baby. He was not the one who was going to have to push it out. He was not the one who people would be whispered about in the hallways. He was not the one people would be calling a _slut. _

Isabella glanced up at her boyfriend's facial expression, trying to decipher what he was thinking. Then she shifted her head and her eyes became glued down to the ground as she reached for his hand. Danny looked up at her, messy dark hair falling in his face like it always has. "Danny," she spoke up softly, voice cracking. She grasped his hand around hers, shaking softly. "After the baby's born, will you marry me?"

Danny also suddenly found the ground very interesting. His throat was filled with painful spikes and his chest ached so deeply that it rang throughout his whole body.

No, he wanted to say. The thought of marrying Isabella caused fear to spew into his stomach. Marriage. He wasn't ready for marriage. He wasn't... he wasn't ready... He was suddenly doubting himself. Did he even really love Isabella? No, not truly. Not deeply. To spend a whole lifetime with her was unimaginable... to be so caged for so long... but... but...

He looked down at her stomach.

_"I'm keeping it."_

"Yes," he answered weakly, voice cracking. Isabella smiled sadly.

The two young adults continued holding each other's hands, staring down at the floor and the walls and the ceiling, anywhere but each other. For a now somewhat engaged couple, there was no happy laughter and loving glances exchanged that day.

—

Two months along the pregnancy had quickly approached in a blur of anxiety and fear. While their classmates signed up for next semester's class, Danny and Isabella removed themselves for the next semester, with the shaky promise that they would eventually return, and moved in together.

Danny had left his roommates without so much as a goodbye, leaving only a note that his portion of the month's rent had been paid. Now, he stood in Isabella's living room, staring at the boxes and suitcases his stuff was stuffed in.

Was this real? Was this really happening?

With a heavy sigh, the dark-haired boy picked up a box and carried it to the spare bedroom. He gently placed the boxes on the ground, then sat down on the ground, pressing his head against the cold wall.

"You can sleep with me, you know," said Isabella hesitantly, leaning against the doorway. A barely visible piece of chub sticking out from her stomach.

He looked up at her for a long second. Before, he had never had a problem sleeping with Isabella. In fact, he usually found their cuddle sessions enjoyable. These days, though, he didn't have half the heart to be in the same room as her.

"No, it's all right," he lied, standing up.

The couple stared at each other for what felt like hours. Isabella was far from her normally quick-thinking attitude and her shoulders were slumped so slow that it looked like she would fall over. Danny was sure he didn't look much better. Guilt sunk deep into his being. He was being selfish. He was being a shitty person. A shitty boyfriend.

He pulled his eyes away from the wall and glanced around the room, desperately trying to think of anything to say. Nothing came to mind, however, and he began to flounder.

Room. It was a nice room. Her parent paid the rent for the apartment, right? Right? Parents. Parents!

The dark-haired boy shifted on his feet. "Have you... have you told your parents?"

Isabella laughed weakly, humorlessly. She sat down on his new bed, staring down at her feet. "Are you kidding?" she asked, finally looking up at him. "My mom would completely cut me off."

Danny bit down on his lip so hard it drew blood to stop himself from snapping back. He doubted that. Isabella's parents were white and paid for her— might he add— expensive _rent. _Maybe they would be upset with her, but at the end of the day, they would still love and support her with everything she needed. His Japanese mother, on the other, who was still a bit traditional, would never let him hear the end of it.

"Have you told your parents?"

He scoffed, shaking his head, and standing up. He turned his back to her. "Like you care about how I feel."

He couldn't see her face, but he could feel her crest fallen expression stabbing him through the back.

"Danny—"

He whirled around. "You're being selfish," he hissed. His eyes burned as he tried to force them not to glow green.

She stood up, fury burning in her own eyes. "Do you have any idea how painful abortions are, Danny? Do you know how traumatizing it is?"

"Do you even care about what happens to the baby afterwards?" he snapped back.

Her shoulders shook with anger. Her expression was more terrifying than any ghostly eyes. "Get out."

He scowled at her, turning around and finally letting his control over his eyes slip. "Gladly."

—-

The main reason he didn't want to tell Jazz was out of fear of a psychoanalysis. Maybe he should have a little more faith in his sister.

Or maybe not, because the first thing she told him was to stop joking around.

Danny, now home with his sister for his Dad's birthday, squawked out in offense. "Why would I lie about this?!"

Jazz stilled, slowly turning away from her book shelf to face him. Her face became unnaturally pale. "Wait, you're being serious?"

"Yes!" he cried out loudly. "In five months, I'm gonna be a dad! Haha!"

The young woman rushed forward, grabbing him by the shoulders, with a crazed look in her eye. "Four months along?! She's four months along?! And you didn't tell me?!"

He replied in a monotonous voice. "In my defense, I was in denial for most of this."

"Oh, no, no," she muttered, beginning to pace. She dragged her hands through her dyed red hair. The roots were beginning to turn back to their natural black. She twitched as she nervously paced across her room back and forth. "This is not good."

He fell backwards onto her bed, grabbing onto Bearbert, and cuddling him. "No shit."

"Hey, my room. No swearing and— no Bearbert!" she scolded, trying to tug her prized bear from his grasp. But her younger brother phased the stuffed animal out of her grip, flipping over so it was out of her reach.

"I'm having an existential crisis, Jazz," he said.

She sighed, sitting down on the edge of her old bed. She folded her hands across her dress pants, bouncing her foot nervously. "You can't have a kid, Danny," she told him. "The ghosts will use them against you. And you're half-ghost, how will that affect the pregnancy? What about the kid?"

"I know."

Jazz stared at him for a long few seconds until her eyes grew sad. She reached out to ruffle his hair reassuringly. "I'm sorry," she offered. "And adoption isn't an option, is it?"

"No," he answered stubbornly. "And she wants me to marry her after the baby's born."

"And you don't want to marry her?"

"No."

"Does she, like, genuinely want to marry you...?"

"I don't know. I don't think so."

"I..." she faltered. "I don't know, Danny. I'm sorry."

He smiled at her humorlessly. "You, Jasmine Fenton, don't know something? That's crazy."

"Please stop using jokes to suppress your feelings, it's making me feel bad."

The dark-haired boy sighed, sitting up. "I don't know what to do, Jazz."

"I'm sorry, little brother," she whispered, pulling him closer. "I hope you're being nice to her, too. It has to be hard for her."

He flinched. He hadn't been the nicest to Isabella lately. He looked down. "I don't think I can do this."

Jazz began to slowly stroke his hair. She had to reach up a little bit to reach his head.

He sniffled, burying his face in his hands. "I can't afford a baby, Jazz. I can barely afford to feed myself."

She smiled softly and sadly at him. "I'll help you the best I can. Tucker and Sam will do everything they can, too."

He sighed, pressing his head into her shoulder.

"When are you going to tell Mom and Dad?"

Danny whimpered. "I don't know."

"You gotta admit you're a little curious how the baby will turn out."

He snorted, throwing his head back. "Yeah. Another half-ghost, probably. Just what I needed."

"Or fourth-ghost," she chimed.

"That's not possible."

She smiled. "We'll see."

—

The papers had been discarded to the dinner table as soon as they got home. Danny couldn't help but continue stare at them, even though he'd already seen the ultrasound with his own eyes.

A girl.

They're having a girl.

Isabella was sitting on the couch, her stomach now sizably round. She was slowly writing down on a yellow sketch pad, sadly staring off into the distance as she drifted between reality and her own world.

Danny has a pretty good idea what that world looked like. A world without him.

Jazz's words still rang clear in his ears. _Be nice to her, Danny._ He really hadn't been the best boyfriend— fiancé?— lately, had he?

Had the circumstances been different, he would be sure Isabella would have whipped him into his place. But she was exhausted these days. She never laughed or smiled anymore and she spent her days closed off from the world.

Guilt sinking into him, Danny slowly approached her, sitting down next to her. "Hey," he greeted quietly.

"Hey," she said, not looking up from her notebook.

His shoulders slumped as he uselessly tried to think of something to say. Was there anything he could say?

Danny eyes drifted down to the notepad in her hands, tilting his head curiously. "What're you writing?"

Isabella, in a very uncharacteristic way, silently handed him the notepad. The boy's eyebrows shot up as she realized it was a handwritten list of baby girl names.

"Rebecca?" he read, forcing a joking tone into his voice. "Do you want her to grow up wearing Uggs?"

Isabella's eyes narrowed slightly. "What's wrong with Uggs?"

Sweat was suddenly trickling down the nape of his neck. Oh, yeah. Isabella was an Instagram white girl. He forgot.

Laughing nervously, he shook his head, attention returning to the notepad. As his eyes scanned further down the list, a frown weighed heavily on his face. All of these names were... All of these names were trash. Brooklyn? Olivia? Mia? Victoria?

I mean, c'mon.

He grimaced at the thought of naming his daughter any of those names.

"You don't like them," concluded Isabella, voice stony and cold. She pressed closer to the side of the couch so she was further from him.

"I mean," he said, trying to figure a way out of this with a playful tone, "Aubrey, really?"

Her face scrunched up with anger. "I like it."

His fingers tensed around the notepad. There she was again. She was being selfish, thoughtless, like she was the only one in this situation.

"Well, I don't," he said truthfully, turning to her with blank eyes. "I am not naming my daughter Aubrey."

Isabella stood up a speed that should've been impossible for a pregnant woman. She hovered over him, eyes burning with rage. Her hand rushed forward, slamming the notepad from his hands into the floor.

Danny cried out in shock, looking up at her.

"Then choose it yourself," she hissed, nose twitching with a sneer. She turned her back on him and walked away. He watched her silently, surprised and taken back. Her bedroom door slammed shut so loudly that the noise echoed throughout the apartment.

The ghost boy sighed, falling backwards in the couch. He groaned, covering with his hands with face. Great, great! That was great. She had been easily irritated lately, but never this badly. Had he crossed a line somewhere? God, could he please learn how to talk to woman?

With a heavy sigh, he pulled his now sticky hands free from his face. After a few more minutes of staring up at the ceiling, he sighed again, leaning down and scooping up the notepad. In Isabella's fit of rage, the pages had been flipped over. He neatly put the pages back down, not sparing a glance at their contents. He stood up, throwing the notepad unceremoniously back onto the coffee pages. The pages fluttered and a sequence of numbers suddenly caught his eyes.

Curiosity overwhelming him, he picked up the notepad again and flipped through the notepad. Pages upon pages of... addresses? The addresses had a price next to them, followed with indecipherable scribbles of Isabella's short hand. Most of them were crossed out, but all of them had one thing in common. They were all located in Oregon.

Oregon, Danny thought. Wasn't Isabella from Oregon?

Fear struck down on him like lightning. Was Isabella going to make them move to Oregon, was she? No, she wouldn't... He couldn't leave Amity Park, not with the Ghost Portal still active.

With shaky hands, he placed the notepad back onto the coffee table and ran out of the door, barely sparing enough times to grab his phone and out on his shoes. In seconds, he was outside of the apartment, flying above Amity Park at a rapid speed, in search of a place whose location he didn't know.

Were things about to get a million times complicated?

—

Everyday was a reminder that the clock was ticking closer to the end of nine months. Isabella seemed to grow bigger every time he saw her. And of course, the ghosts hadn't stopped making fun of him. He was surprised they hadn't found out much, much sooner. Ember had spent a full twenty minutes laughing at him before he gave up and sucked her up into the thermos. Her boyfriend, Skulker, upon learning about the news, sniffed, looking down at him, "You've had sex?" which was probably payback for spending years trying to convince Ember to dump him for the fun of it.

Eventually, the clock had finally reached six months down. Three months left. And his parents were still none the wiser.

So, that's why he was here now, standing in front of his childhood home, with his sister, Jazz, attached to the size. Familiarity flooded into his senses as he looked up at the glowing neon sign.

Jazz stepped forward, pounding on the door with her fist, and ignoring the door bell with her father's face on it.

"Coming!" her mother's voice shouted, followed by the loud, thumping footsteps of her husband running towards the door.

The footsteps suddenly stopped and the door swung open. "Jazzy-pants! Danny-boi!" Jack cried out, pulling both of his children into a back breaking hug. Danny wheezed as the wind was knocked out of him and he was raised a good foot above the air.

"Jack!" called Maddie from somewhere in the lab. "Who is it?"

"The kids!" he beamed happily. The sound of metal instruments being dropped onto the floor followed his declaration. Jack pulled his kids inside, closing the door behind them. He gently set them down, beaming at them.

A beautiful Japanese woman stood in the archway of the kitchen. She was wearing an odd blue hazmat suit much like her husband's. Her hair was dyed a bright orange red, but the roots of her naturally sleek black hair peeked out, exactly like Jazz's hair.

Maddie's face instantly lit up upon seeing her kids, pulling them into a bone crushing hug. "Oh, it's been so long!"

"Mom," Jazz wheezed, trying to pull her face away. "I was here two weeks ago!"

"That's fourteen days! Three-hundred and thirty-six hours! Twenty-thousand, one-hundred and sixty minutes!"

"Oh, my god, Mom," she groaned, much like she had in her teenager years when her parents had constantly dotted over. Danny watched the interaction with an amused smile, returning the hug to his mother.

Maddie smiled, releasing them from her grasp. She touched Jazz's cheek and then reached up to ruffle Danny's messy hair. He had grown since his teenagers. Of course, with someone as tall as his father, he was bound to get a growth spurt. Yet, Danny had only grown from a small teenage boy to an average height one. His father still dwarfed him and the similar body shapes were nowhere in sight.

However, with the crashing that came from behind her from her husband walking into another picture frame, she thought that maybe it was okay Danny was a little small.

Paying no attention to the mess behind her, she smiled at her kids warmly. "What brings you kids here today?" she asked. "You two rarely come together."

Jazz opened her mouth to answer, but before she could get the words out, Maddie spoke again.

"And what are you two doing?" she asked, gesturing at their shoes. "This isn't a zoo! Take those off!" she scolded before she disappeared down the hallway for cleaning supplies.

"We didn't get the time!" Danny whined playfully at her, shoving his sneakers off, and pushing them to the Matt at the door. Jazz leaned against the wall as she gently peeled her heels off.

Maddie returned with a broom, dust bin, and a vacuum cleaner. Jack smiled sheepishly at her, then began to assist in cleaning up the mess of shattered glass.

The other two moved forward to help their parents, but the adults had already finished. They fist bumped each other like they were teenagers, pushing the cleaning supplies to the side to put away for later.

Danny couldn't help but stare at them with a twinge of jealously.

His parents were the best coupe he knew. They were a well-working oil machine that never broke. They were a team. He and Isabella would never have that. His and Isabella's daughter would never grow up with parents who loved each other so openly.

The bitterness bit at his tongue, but it slowly evaporated upon seeing his parents glowing faces. He texted them often and made sure to drop by when he could. Surely, they couldn't miss him that much?

"What brings you kids here?" their mom asked.

Jack's expression brightened even more if possible. "Oh! Mads, they're probably here to see our new inventions!"

Maddie nodded excitedly, "Oh, that's a great idea, Jack—!"

"Actually, Mom," Jazz spoke up and her parents turned to face her, "Danny and I wanted to talk to you guys. Well, Danny does, actually."

Danny's fingers twitched as she spoke for him. He felt humiliated. He couldn't face his own parents without the help of his sister. He had begged her for what felt like hours, until she caved and agreed to offer some emotional support.

"Oh," the parents said, looking at each other and then their kids, a little surprised.

"Oh, no, Danny," whispered Jack in a horrified manner, "you didn't change majors to mythical creatures studies did you?"

Horror glowed in Maddie's eyes. "He would never," she hissed, lightly smacking her husband on the arm. "He knows better than that!"

Jack's eyes narrowed. "Those darn centaur lovers have stolen our number one spot more times than I can count!"

"Fifteen, Jack."

"—That's too many!" he declared loudly and his wife nodded in agreement. "A fae tracker?— Nonsense! Fairies aren't even real!"

Jazz stared at her parents with a blank expression. "Dad, you guys hunt ghosts."

Maddie laughed, waving her off. "Oh, but honey, ghosts are real."

"Yeah," agreed Jack, then muttered. "Those guys are a bunch of nut cases."

Danny had to stifle a laugh at their banter and his older sister's reaction. He missed this. He missed the way how things used to be. He missed the days when his parents hating his ghost half was his biggest concern.

Maddie pulled his face to hers, inspecting every inch of his face.

"Okaasan," he grunted.

"You don't look sick," she commented, trying to stretch his eyelids open so she could examine his eyes. He smacked her fingers away from his face and she let him go. She chuckled at him, ruffling his hair again. "Definitely Danny."

He couldn't help the small smile that tugged at his lips, but it quickly slipped away. Would they still feel the same after he told him? How disappointed would they be with him?

"Danny-o, what's wrong?" asked Jack.

He looked down and fiddled with his hands. He felt like a teenager, still excruciatingly young and dumb. The only things that had changed in those years in between were the college credits he had amassed.

He glanced at the couch, then without answering, turned his back to sit down. His family looked at each other, then followed him.

Jack and Maddie sat on opposite sides, with Jazz sitting by Jack. She reached across her father to squeeze her brother's shoulder reassuringly.

"Danny?" the mother began, concern flooding into her expression, "Are your classes going okay?"

He fixed his gaze at his star printed socks. But was he okay? No. No, he wasn't okay.

His eyes stung as tears began to build up. "I didn't sign up for classes this semester."

Jack and Maddie glanced at each other, then turned back to their son. Maddie frowned. "Young man, you aren't planning on dro—"

"No," he said quickly, not trusting his voice to not crack. "That's not it."

Jack frowned with worry. "Dan-o, what's wrong?"

The first half of the nickname brought memories rushing in. Dan. Dan's timeline is supposed to meet with his in three years. He was going to have a daughter in three months. What if he became him again? What would happen to her? What would—

"Danny, calm down," Jazz spoke up from the silence, jolting him from the thoughts. "You're going to have a panic attack, if you keep doing that."

He nodded dumbly, closing his, slowly inhaling and exhaling. Each breath was shaky and felt like a million pin pricks on his chest.

"Danny, what's wrong?"

He couldn't say it. He couldn't say it. He couldn't say it.

"Kid?"

_Kid_, he thought, gazing off wistfully. He wished he had more time as a kid.

"Danny."

He had to. He had to tell them. Just spit it out!

"Danny?"

Spit it out! Spit it out! JUST SPIT IT OUT!

"I'm pregnant," he blurted.

"Very funny, Danny," said his mother, unimpressed.

He slapped his face so hard it was sure to leave a red mark. He quickly fell into a stuttering mess. "Well— I'm— I'm not pregnant— my— a guy— I'm," he spluttered, face turning bright red. Way to go, Fenton! Oh, God, this was like coming out to his parents as bisexual again, but somehow _so_ much worse.

He cried out into his hands, sinking into the couch so deeply that his lower half was hanging off.

Jack reached out with a large hand and patted his son's stomach. "Doesn't feel pregnant."

Danny whined into his hands. "I'm not pregnant."

Maddie reached out to press her palm to his forehead. "Hm, you're a bit warm and grumpy, are you sure?" she teased.

He threw his hands up in the air. "This is serious!"

Jack beamed. "I can't believe I'm going to be a grandfather," he joked.

The ghost boy muttered something indecipherable into his hands.

His mother raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "What was that, honey?"

He hands tensed against his face and Jazz held her breath.

"That's..." his voice was shaking just as hard as his body. "That's because... that's because you... you are."

Silence. There was heavy, unbearable silence. It was only seconds, but it felt like years to Danny, slowly ticking away with no end in sight. It was the calm before the storm.

And then it exploded into chaos.

Jack jumped up from the couch, whooping and cheering. He grabbed his son and pulled him into a hug so tight that he could hear his bones cracking. At the same time, his mom was angrily shouting a sling of words in Japanese that he couldn't quite understand, but got the point from her tone and expression.

"I'm gonna be a grandpa!" shouted Jack, tears comically filling his eyes. Danny wheezed in his impossible tight grasp.

"Jack!" scolded Maddie, jumping to her feet, pulling her son out of her husband's grip. "Don't encourage him! He's too young!"

"Who's the mother? How far along is she?"

"You're twenty-one! You haven't even graduated—!"

Danny's brain was swirling rapidly with his parents' shouting.

"Dan-o! You got any names?"

"Jack! Stop it!"

He whimpered, clasping his hands to his ears. His lungs felt like a million weights were pulling down on them and his vision was going bleary.

He couldn't do this. This was all too real. He couldn't do this.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Jazz shouted, diving in front of her younger brother. She held her hands up, putting both of her parents at arm length. "You're scaring him, don't you see?"

"He's twenty-one, Jazz," said Maddie. "He—"

"—He has an anxiety disorder and social phobia," she interrupted, "which has gone basically untreated—"

Danny's brain was slurred, but he could manage to kick into gear enough to register Jazz's words. He winced, tensing. "Let's not talk about my mental health issues right now, Jazz," he said quitley, eyes still focused on the ground and hands clasped tightly to his ears.

Jazz nodded, before offering a reassuring smile. She stood up straighter, facing her parents. "We're all adults here. So, let's act like it." she stated in a tone that left no rom for arguing, not even for her parents. Jazz had a crazy way of doing that. "You," she said, pointing to her mother, "don't interrogate him, alright? He's a kid and he's scared too." She turned to her father. "And you, don't be so loud and excited about it! You're freaking him out!"

Jack's expression immediately softened and he nodded obediently. "Sorry, Danny-o."

Maddie sighed, shoulders slouching tiredly, as she stared at her son. "Alright."

"Now, everyone sit down."

Their parents sat down on the couch together.

"You too, Danny."

The boy scowled lwoered himself to the ground, pressing his knees to his chest, with his back to his parents.

Maddie gazed down at her son, a guilt expression dancing across her face. He was still so young. "How far..." she trailed off, forcing the angry tone out of her voice for a cautious one. "How far along...?"

Danny fiddled with the hem of his socks. He ducked his head into his knees so that his tears weren't visible."

"Danny?"

"I heard you," he said quietly, voice barely loud enough to hear. His body was shaking, and despite the air conditioner running, he could feel the sweat running down his body. His shirt and jeans stuck to his skin uncfomrotably and his mouth had gone completely dry. "Six... Six months."

Maddie stood up immediately, but Jazz gestured her to sit back down. Maddie sat back down, jaw slack with shock. Next to her, Jack had fallen uncharacteristically silent. Six months? Six months and they only knew now?

She wanted to shake his shoulders and try to knock sense into him. Six months? Six months? Has he been going through this without them for six months? Did he really have no faith in them?

The only sound between the family was Danny's soft sniffling.

Maddie's heart instantly shattered. She lowered herself onto the ground from the couch, wrapping her son in a warm embrace from behind. "Oh, honey," she whispered, slowly stroking his hair. She hoped her grandchild had his hair.

"I'm.. I'm sorry," he apologized brokenly, voice cracking.

Jack moved down to the floor with them, enveloping his arms around his wife and son. This hug was a million more times more gentle than the ones he had given only a few minutes earlier. He reached out a large hand to ruffle Danny's hair. "We'll work it out, kiddo," he promised in such a comforting tone that couldn't help but believe him, at least for the minute.

Maddie reached out a small finger, tilting Danny's chin up. Danny's big blue eyes stared at her, watery with tears, small rivers slipping past them. Those beautiful blue eyes. Those eyes. The boy behind those eyes— or was he now no longer a boy?

She pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, then tucked his head into her shoulder. His warm tears soaked through her jumpsuit.

"Come her, Jazzy-pants," beckoned Jack, looking up at his only daughter.

Jazz feigned a sigh, but a happy glimmer danced in her eyes. Jack pulled her into their enormous family hug. "This is nice," she decided.

Her parents nodded and Danny smiled to himself, face still pressed into his mother's jumpsuit. He chuckled softly, "It is."

—

Telling his parents had brought him some solace, just as Jazz had promised. His mom had been disappointed in the beginning and a little more when he had managed to calm down enough to explain the whole story, but she understood that some things in his current predicament were outside of his control.

His parents, being the eccentric people they were, had immediately tarted scheming numerous baby toys that doubled as ecto-weapons. Danny shut that idea down pretty quickly, but they still insisted that he give Isabella a Spector Deflector.

"She's a Fenton, after all!" Jack had said. He was convinced that ghosts would go after the kid because she was the grandson of two of the world's best ghost hunters.

Danny decided to let them believe that truth than the real reason why ghosts would want to actually go after her.

So, here he was now, rubbing Isabella's back as she threw up violently into the toilet. Her gagging and the smell of her vomit made him dizzy also.

She was due within the next month. The baby could be here any day now.

After a few more long minutes of comforting her, Isabella shakily turned away from the toilet and she stood up. He stood up quickly too, offering his hand to help her, but she pushed him away. She lumbered to the sink, splashed her face with cold water, then began to brush her teeth.

Danny watched her silently. She looked sickly and not because she had just spent the past hour throwing up. Her sickness looked like it reached to her soul. Her skin was much paler than normal and her once volumous hair was now thin and greasy.

Danny didn't dare to look into the mirror at himself. He was sure he didn't look much better.

He asked Isabella one more time if she was okay and she nodded silently, turning her back to him. With a sigh, he left the bedroom towards his bedroom, flopping onto his bed.

He grabbed the turned off Spector Deflector his parents had forced him to take, putting it to the life. His kid was going to be some part ghost. He didn't know how using the Spector Deflector on the now very large fetus would affect her, but he figured it woudn't be good.

He sighed, placing the device back onto his bed stand. The sound of his ceiling fan echoing through his brain as he thought. Could he and Isabella even be classified as a couple these days? They had become people who only lived in the same house. Sure, they eat a few meals together and sat down on the couch after long days of work, but could they really be considered a family? A couple?

No, he thought sadly. No, they couldn't.

And what about when Isabella had asked her to marry him? Had that been silently called off?

It made Danny bite his nails in nervousness. What was going to happen to them after the baby was born? Were he and Isabella going to split ways? He had seen the list of addresses she had written down months ago in Oregon. Would she go back home and take the baby back with her? No, she wouldn't, would she?

And what about Phantom? Could she ever tell him about Phantom?

Danny recalled how she had reacted when she first met his parents a few ago. She had been shaken and overwhelmed and whispered, "They're crazy," into his ear. If he had been fourteen, he would've igreed in an instant— but he wasn't. He felt a prick of annoyance at her statement. His parents were some of the nicest people he knew and at least he had told them about the baby. He still wasn't completely sure she had even told hers yet.

He couldn't tell her about his ghost half. Isabella was already scared numb out of her whits, telling her that he was Danny Phantom and their child might be part ghost, would scare her out of her wits. She wouldn't be able to handle it. So, no, he couldn't tell.

Heh. But then again, when had things ever been easy for him?

With another heavy sigh, he pressed his face into his pillow, moaning softly. Only the future could tell now.

—

The next weeks passed in a blur. Danny and Isabella argued constantly over names now that the clock was about to strike. Isabella wanted to name her Sophie, but Danny resisted and wanted to name her a Japanese name, in honor of his half-Japanese heritage and his Japanese mother.

When the weeks weren't going by in a blur, they were going by so slowly that it made Danny want to pull his hour out. Was Isabella going to be pregnant forever?!

But then, the day came. The clock struck midnight.

Two days before the little girl had been expected to come, Isabella went into labor. In the middle of the night, he might add. She was screaming at him to drive faster, and he did, at such speeds that even his dad would be impressed at. In an instant, she was being whisked away by hospital staff, leaving him to trail after them.

The doctors didn't let him in the room for the first few minutes. They had to prepare a few things and they didn't need any distractions.

So, Danny paced in front of the closed hospital door, driving himself insane as he thought. He was terrified. This was real. This was far too real. His heart was pounding so rapidly in his chest that he thought he was going to pass out. He was scared out of his mind, but he was also... excited?

Excitement? He had never felt that emotion during this pregnancy. Concern, worry, fear, sadness, guilt, and an ocean of numerous other negative emotions, but never excitement.

It bubbled inside him so ferociously that it threatened to make him sick.

With fumbling and shaking hands, he managed to text Tucker, Sam, his parents, and Jazz. Okay, so maybe he over did it, but what was he going to do?! What was he supposed to do?!

Had he and Isabella even settled on a mutual name!?

Surprisingly, Tucker and Sam were there before anyone else. The two came skidding into the hospital and running at full speed once the elvator had let them out. They tackled Danny into a gigantic hug. They were both dressed in their pajamas with nothing but their phones in their hands.

"Why would you call us at 3am?! Babies take several hours to be born! Oh, never mine it doesn't matter!" Sam excitedly rambled, eyes sparkling brightly and uncharacteristically for such an inhuman hour of the night. She shook him by the shoulders violently, "I'm gonna be a god mother!"

"Hey!" Tucker cried out, butting in, as he also shook Danny. "Valerie and I are gonna be the god parents!"

"You two aren't even dating!"

"We are! She just doesn't know it yet!"

In their excitement, they had begun pulling Danny back and forth like a game of tug-of-war between two energetic puppies.

"Who even does god parents anymore?" asked Jazz, appearing behind them, fully dressed with a full face of make-up like it wasn't three in the morning. "And who cares? I'm gonna be an aunt!"

Sam narrowed her eyes. "Not if I allow it."

The elevator dinged and then the Fenton parents burst from its confinements, startling half-asleep workers, and bounding down the hallway with ther arms full of bags.

"Danny-o!" cried Jack, holding up his large arms filed with... baby supplies? "We got the stuff."

The dark-haired boy bounced his foot nervously, staring up at his parents as they came to an abrupt stop. "Uh, Dad, we already got the stuff."

Maddie held out her finger, shaking her head. "But you didn't get the Fenton brand!"

He moaned in mortification.

Jack swung out his arm to show off a hand-stitched baby bag covered in little green ghosts. He reached inside the large bag, fumbling for a few moments before he pulled something out. "The baby's gonna look great!" he announced, holding up a onesie with his grinning face slapped on it.

Maddie nodded in agreement, producing a headband with two Ghostbuster styled ghosts on opposite sides. "She's gonna be the best dressed baby in pre-k!"

Sam patted Danny's shoulder in mock reassurance. "I'll get the kid new clothes."

Danny made a face, playfully whacking her hand off his shoulder. "Like I would let you buy her any clothes. You'd dress 'em up like a lolita doll."

She grinned, crossing her arms over her chest. "And she'll look great."

The hospital door swung open and a doctor peeped her head through. She turned to Danny. "Are you the father?" she asked and he nodded. She opened the door just enough for him to step in and he closed the door behind him.

Now, Danny liked to think he had a strong stomach. He had grown up in the Fenton household and he fought ghosts for a living. He had seen a lot of gross shit over the years, but was a whole different level.

Who ever said that child birth was beautiful was a lying piece of fruit cake.

Isabella was shaking horribly, clutching onto the rails of the bed so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. Her thin blond hair was plastered to her face with sweat and sticking up in all directions. A nurse was pressing a cold towel to her forehead. Nurses and doctors alike were rushing around the room, scurrying for instruments and anything helpful they could find.

A large blanket was spread across Isabella's lower half and doctor's lower half stuck out from it. Danny probably would've found the position funny if the situation weren't so horrifying.

"C-Section or natural?"

The doctor moved out from under the sheet. "Natural should be fine," he said, glancing to Isabella. "Is that alright?"

"Yes!" she hissed, "Just get it out!"

Danny moved to Isabella's side, clasping her hand, trying to comfort either her or himself. Isabella stifled a wail. Danny's not sure how much time went by as he stood there with her, watching the doctors rush around.

"4 inches in diameter!"

"4.4 inches!"

Hours passed by but they tricked away like seconds. Tears were pouring down Isabella's face as she cried into her pillow. Danny's legs and feet had fallen asleep and he was shaking so much that a nurse offered to get him a chair.

A nurse appeared on Isabella's other side, reassuringly squeezing her shoulder. "I'm gonna need you to squeeze harder, sweetheart."

Isabella shook her head, whimpering.

"Head is visible!"

The door swung open and Danny's friends and family rushed in, closing the door behind them so Isabella's friends couldn't follow them. A nurse intructed them to stand on the sideline or they would have to ask them to leave.

"You're almost there," exhaled Danny shakily, staring at the tear tracks running down her cheeks.

Time had somehow warped into never moving, but moving too fast at the same time. And then it all came to a crashing halt as a high-pitched wailing echoed through the room.

The blanket covering Isabella's lower half turned bright red with pools of blood. The young woman immediately collapsed into the bed, closing her eyes.

The doctor pulled a small round ball of from underneath the sheets. The ball, he realized, was a baby. His baby.

The baby was covered in blood from head-to-toe. A small puff of hair stuck up from her head, slick with blood and other bodily fluids. The small baby's face was scrunched up as she wailed, squinting her eyes from the harsh brightness of the room.

Danny watched, mesmerized, as the nurses cared to the baby, weighing her, cutting off her umbilical cord, and then attempting to clean her. He glanced down at Isabella, who was passed out and having several nurses tend to her, and then to the baby.

He slowly approached the nurse who was was cleaning the baby. Tucker and Sam followed him and so did his family.

His eyes widened as he finally got an up close of his daughter. That made his head spin, _His daughter._

The nurse washed the blood away from the baby's body, wiped it off her face, then focused on trying to get it out of her hair, which had become blood red with its color.

The baby still had her eyes squished shut and she was still covered in ick, but Danny couldn't help but think she was beautiful as a warm feeling blossomed in his chest.

The warm feeling, however, vanished once he saw strands of the baby's clean hair. Horror struck through him down like a high velocity punch. The nurse gasped softly, then continued to scrub the hair to get the rest of the blood out.

"Danny, what's wrong?" asked Jazz, moving forward, placing her hand on his shoulder. She glanced down at the baby and gasped, face turning pale.

The nurse put a diaper on the baby, then wrapped her up in a small blanket. She cradled the infant to her chest, then turned around so the family and friends could see.

His parents' eyes widened in shock and Tucker and Sam glanced to each other with identical looks of horror. Danny could feel the blood rush from his head. His world was suddenly beginning to spin.

Because sitting on top of the little infant's head was a small, thick puff of hair.

Of ghostly, stark white hair.


End file.
